Yayoi Kusama

A female iconoclast, Yayoi Kusama holds a very special place in Contemporary art history. A trailblazing figure in 20th and 21st century art, her eccentric yet brilliant mind has given birth to a tremendous body of work, largely generated by hallucinations she first experienced in childhood, symptomatic of a neurotic disorder. Best known for covering entire paintings and sculptures in her joyous polka dots, her immersive ‘Infinity Mirror Rooms’, which envelop the viewer in Kusama’s captivating visual world, are an experience unlike anything else.

Born in Matsumoto City, Japan, in 1929, from a young age the artist grappled with trauma and mental health issues, which she has channelled into her art throughout her life. Feeling constricted in her motherland, she moved to New York City in 1957, which marked a watershed moment in Kusama’s life and career. A pioneering figure in the city’s avant-garde art scene in the 1960s, she began creating her iconic ‘Infinity Nets’ series - the artist’s most significant body of work - shortly after her arrival in New York.

Alongside her iconic polka dots, Kusama is also synonymous with pumpkins. She first began drawing them as a child in Japan during World War II, when her family owned a storehouse of pumpkins that became a beacon of hope as a source of sustenance. She first experienced hallucinations in her childhood. Her pumpkins, so famous they have become an indelible symbol of popular culture, became her solace from her anxieties and obsessions.

Through the passing decades and zeitgeists, Kusama has pioneered an artistic oeuvre filled with colour and light, drawn from the darkness of her neuroses. One of the highest-selling female artists alive today, with the availability of work at different price points, together with her recent collaboration with Louis Vuitton - the brand’s most extensive collaboration with a fine artist to date - she has generated a massive market for her art that continues to grow.